Looking back London Ontario: beer vats, sunset couch

While living in London Ontario I made quite a few paintings mostly on weekends and after classes or laboratory. I read an article (there were newspapers back then) about the Labatt's brewery receiving new beer brewing vats, they had to move phone wires and obstacles on the road to get them delivered by truck after receiving them from overseas. Naturally I had to go down and get a painting of them before they were installed. 

Beer vats, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Here you see a rear view of the brewery with some exterior vats and the river in the foreground. I wonder if this old brewery is still operational, this painting was done over 20 years ago. In Montreal, the Molson's brewery moved to a modern location. 

Rear view Labatt's brewery, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Just at sunset I painted the crab apple trees, with their maroon leaves it made for a neat colour scheme. It was probably done just outside of Bayfield hall where I was staying at the time. 

Sunset red trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

And a typical 'Darlington scene', of a disused couch under a bridge. I used to walk around with my camping chair and sit down wherever something interesting came up. I would also ride my bike with all the paint gear and the chair in my backpack. 

Couch under bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

This was one of the last paintings I ever did in London Ontario prior to leaving for Montreal, where I remain for the last 20 plus years. In the painting, you see a vista view of the campus in winter. The sky is particularly nice, with a soft yellow glow and range of blue and purples done wet-in-wet. 

Winter campus vista, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Looking back London Ontario: campus trees gallery

As I paint on the backs of old paintings, its neat to see the old collection from somewhere around the year 2000. This one was probably around 2004 judging by the technique and whatever vague memory I have of the time. I did a BSc followed by PhD, so about 9 years in London Ontario, but somehow still found time to paint. This one must have been spring, as there were no leaves on the trees. The art gallery building is in the foreground, with the top of Middlesex college in the background. 

Campus art gallery building UWO, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2004?

At one of the fields where we played Ultimate Frisbee, I stayed around after practice and made a painting. As I remember, it was grey and overcast as I painted, then the sun came out and illuminated the tops of these trees. I recall blogging about this one before. 

Yellow, orange red trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 

More fancy stuff on campus, they loved the old limestone look, and ornate lamps. I showed this one to friends back int he day and they wanted to buy it. I made an exact copy and sold it to them, however, I now regret not selling more of the originals back then. Actually, I was showing at a gallery but the owner generally only took my surrealism paintings for sale. 

Glass globe lamps UWO campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

This fancy building is the art museum downtown London Ontario, it had 6 vaulted sections with some type of stained glass paneling. It must have been a tough painting to do, I needed to have used a larger piece of paper. I was a little tight on cash back then so I painted small, and kept the backs of the paintings free in the event I ran out of money to buy paper. My parents helped me a lot over the early years with cost of living and art supplies. 

Downtown art museum, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

At one of the several Ultimate Frisbee tournaments I attended in Kanata Ottawa at the grass fields, we played a game of cups afterwards. You can guess what was in the cups, and that we were drinking the contents and throwing the Frisbee (disc) between the sticks or something to that effect! The more of these 'Looking back blogs" I write, the more I realize I am writing my memoirs. 

Cups Ottawa, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Miscellaneous paintings from this year

Here are some miscellaneous paintings that were probably not posted for one reason or another. This one was done on my trip to Winnipeg where I attended a conference and took a few days before and after to paint. In the background is a prominent hotel, with the brown beach on the bottom left. The river is just over my left shoulder. It was done on my last day there, the plane left in the afternoon and I had the morning to paint. 

Long shadows hotel, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, 2026

 

Surrounding the big human rights museum in Winnipeg, here is a painting of the grassy embankments. It was an interesting structure as seem from the outside. Natural grasslands had been replanted. 

Grassy embankments, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, 2026

 

A downtown Montreal painting, done on Peel street looking north. It was spring, and this green light was interesting against a lime tree-middle-ground. 

Lime tree green light, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, 2026

 

Down in st Pierre neighborhood, this one shows the fast food restaurant sign against a highway and telephone/power poles. Its a neat scene and I've never quite got it right, but this one is getting close. The blue house is just off to the left, not shown in the painting. 

La Belle Province sign, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2026

 

When the first flowers came up, I went around looking for good scenes. This one is done down at Peel basin on the old pier, it shows patches of dandelions growing in the gravel, with the basin visible in the background. I have more London Ontario scenes I will post soon. 

Peel basin dandelions, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2026

Artificial beach downtown Montreal

I rode down to the artificial beach in old port, downtown Montreal, only to find it abandoned. Perhaps its closed down, because there were no people and the umbrellas looked pretty faded, they had been out all winter after all. On the left is the marina for power boats, in the background is Jacques Cartier bridge, 

Artificial beach boats bridge, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2026

Same place, looking down, there was a collection of life jackets, likely a boat-rental area, with the marina in the background and beach off to the right of the scene. It was quiet here at first, but cars and huge SUV trucks kept stopping behind me and idling their vehicles because there was a parking pay station set up behind me. So it became a hot noisy and unpleasant location pretty quick. 

Life jackets marina, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

I was just hanging in there and rushing because of the unpleasantness. People were blaring their car air conditioners making the vehicles spew out blazing hot air, thanks for nothing car people! I will have to go back in the week if I get the chance there are less bozos idling their truck-cars. 

Bridge marina blue umbrellas, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Cosmos flowers, reflections, electrical danger

Downtown Montreal near the elevated rail line there are landscaped features including cosmos flowers and new trees. On the left, you see part of a glass condo, these buildings dominate the landscape now. Cosmos flowers are light pink, magenta, and dark magenta.  

Cosmos flowers downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

On Stanley street there are plenty of shops with glass-facades. This one had an angled window at sidewalk level, with upright windows on top. Both sets of windows were reflecting the scene from across the street. With everything on perspective, it was key to get the lines correct. I replaced some rooftop graffiti with my initials in the reflection, and signed bottom left with yellow ochre. 

Double reflection angle, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Still on Stanley street, I captured more reflections in windows, showing the fire escape from across the street. Brunch was going on at street level, and there was some cool music playing. 

Reflection alley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Down on st Patrick street I found some new subject material including this scene of an electrical station. A sturdy looking fence had an electrocution warning sign that looked genuinely terrifying. The electrical structure in the background was adorned with an abundance of cylinders, wires and strange shapes. 

Electrical risk, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

This old warehouse with pale green siding has seen better days. Plastered with graffiti, it also smelled of water rot. I would have done more of the location, there is a large parking lot here with public access, its in between Lachine canal and autoroute 15, a hard place to get to by bike. 

Warehouse initials, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Big sun Montréal summer

Finally we had a decent Montréal summer's day, close to 30℃ and a blue sky most of the morning. Here, I am looking up at the condos and sun, standing on Stanley street downtown. I painted the sun with big yellow, orange, magenta and blue rings, then filled in some buildings on an upwards -looking persepective. 

Big sun Montréal summer, watercolour 8 x 11" cold press, July 2026

Getting back to Dorchester square, here is another painting of the white umbrella-parasol with green furniture, and brilliant red geraniums around the monument. I changed the monument panel to my initials and self-portrait. The geraniums were a little less intense this time, some had dried and turned a neat dark red shade. The earlier painting is here. 

Parasol green chairs red geraniums, watercolour 8 x 11" cold press, July 2026

 

Finding some new subject material on st Patrick street, here is an auto shop with a sign L'Artiste (The Artist). There was what appeared to be a Bat-mobile car in progress sitting out front. 

Auto Shop L'Artiste, watercolour 8 x 11" cold press, July 2026

 

Surreal Pizza Shop (sunset corner)

Riding my bike out to the pizza shop, and I saw a tangerine sun setting on the corner. It was what I saw and it was not what I saw. I painted  it and I did not paint it. In fact, surrealism was real, at least partly. Headlights helped the cars find their way, but the pizza took a little while longer than expected. Had I ordered pizza than maybe I would have thought about eating it. Order now from PJD's surreal pizza shop in Montreal.  

Surreal Pizza Shop (sunset corner), watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2026